Last year, during a decluttering spree, I was going through some old magazines to crop new images for my style inspiration/sketch book. I found this gem in an issue of Nylon, and posted it on my blog at that point. Lately I’m hearing the issue of the importance of fashion come up over and over in conversation, and inevitably there’s one person who is of the opinion that style sucks and everything else is more important. To them I say this:
Dear Mr. Mickey,
People keep telling me that style and substance don’t mix. I keep telling them that Albert Einstein created his own crazy-professor look, Hamid Karzai damn well knows a thing or two and Nancy Pelosi sure didn’t get up there dressed in Wet Seal. What do you think?
Smarty (Anna Sui) PantsDear Smarty Pants,
Bless you for pointing out what should be painfully obvious. Interest in the fabulous world of fashion is sometimes taken as a sign of stupidity, and although Mr. Mickey admits there are a few knuckleheads in the fashion world, there are numbskulls in every area of human endeavor. There are also superintelligent and socially aware people in every field, fashion included. Similarly, people who are good-looking or enthusiastic about sex are considered idiots when, in fact, there are plenty of sexy whores who do very well on the SAT! What we need is to be a little open-minded, people. We also need to step out of our usual milieu. Straight men who wear pleated pants need to visit the sumptuous new Tom Ford boutique on Madison Avenue. Fashion girls who carry $1000 handbags need to visit the planetarium. Gay Internet tramps need to hook up with sex partners of different religions. We need to mix it up, cuties! We need to stop with the easy put-downs. Blondes, fashion people, gays, and Polish people all have feelings. (And have you ever noticed how sexy les Polonais are?) Take a trip outside your comfort zone as often as possible, and we’ll all be enriched for it.
So, next time someone calls you an idiot for your interest in fashion, just tell them they have to answer to Nylon’s Mr. Mickey. And me.
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